Friday, August 01, 2014

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: Peter Quill, Sr.?

A *SPOILER*-ful wishful crazy talk ramble on a mystery of the MCU follows. If you haven't seen GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, turn back for your own sanity, please!

So! Who is Peter Quill's father? The Marvel Universe tells us that he's a Spartan (or Spartoi, of Spartax) named J'son, and Spartoi royalty. He crash lands on Earth and falls in love with Meredith Quill. When J'son is able to leave Earth he does, and leaves behind a pregnant Meredith, who gives birth to Peter. Years later, assassins seeking to end the royal bloodline track Meredith and Peter down. They kill Meredith and destroy their home. Young Peter manages to kill them and survive. He lives to be an adult before leaving Earth and eventually become Star-Lord.

However, given what we learn in GOTG, I get the feeling that he's going to get a different genealogy in the MCU. Some things that don't line up…

Peter Quill begins his life in space as a child, not as an adult.

The Spartoi and Spartax are not mentioned (at least, I didn't catch any references).

Peter's first extraterrestrial contact is with Yondu, a Centaurian, and his Ravagers. Yondu turns out to be an associate of Peter, Sr.

Or course, these inconsistencies w the continuity of the comics does not mean that they can't be smoothed into a Jason of Sparta heritage in the MCU, but…

What *do* we know about Peter, Sr. based on the movie?

He sent Yondu and the Ravagers to retrieve young Peter (the moment his mother passed away?).

Yondu seems familiar with him, and calls him "a dick" (I think that's what he called him, right?).

Nova Prime explains that Peter is half Earthican and half something-like-an-Elder-of-the-Universe. As far as I can recall, there's nothing "Ancient Ones"-y about the Spartoi. They're contemporaries of the Kree, Xandarians, and Shi-ar.

In the card she leaves with him, Mama Quill calls him her little "Star-Lord," a conspicuous pet name, even if you do know his dad was extraterrestrial royalty, donchathink?

Given all of that, I'm gonna say it's… Starhawk! Aka The One Who Knows, of the original, alternate future, Guardians of the Galaxy. What that might look like/mean in the MCU, of course, is unknown, and hopefully remains to be seen. As far as we know, there's no "earlier"/future incarnation of the GOTG in the MCU, but there's a definite affiliation of some sort between the MCU's Yondu and Peter's father, who he deems a dick (One Who Knows), and it explains (to me, at least) why Peter's mother would choose a name like "Star-Lord" as a pet name for him.

Maybe it's Starhawk from the 31st century, sent back in time to make sure that the Earth, Milky Way, and neighboring galaxies of the 21st century are prepared for a certain cosmic threat (Thanos / Infinity Stones). If he IS the One Who Knows, then he might have tweaked Earth and galactic events to align just the right forces to make a proper, winning stand vs. Thanos at a critical point in time. Maybe he helped form the Ravagers? Or even the Nova Corps? Maybe while manipulating some events or discoveries on Earth in the 70s, he found himself stranded for a time, fell in love with an Earth woman, and had a son with her. Until he could find a way to contact the Ravagers for a rescue?

Or something.

I know it's a stretch, but I'd love for that GOTG connection to be there across a millennium, y'know? In the comics, Starhawk, or an alternate version of him, did go back in time—or sent a message thru time?—to alert Quill and the present-day GOTG to a Thanosian threat.

My next pick: Star-Lord! Yeah, in the Marvel Universe there was a Star-Lord who took over for Peter Quill years after Quill died or disappeared. He only had a short mini-series, and I'm not sure that his origin involved him being some sort of elder cosmic species, but he was a telepath, which I would think is unusual. This would be a weird and fun one to write into the MCU, tho. In the comic, he takes up Star-Lord's mantle, but in order to make him the MCU Peter Quill's father, we'd have to make him a time traveler, or the original (or at least, earlier) Star-Lord. Sadly, that "code name" does not inspire any awe or fear Out There.

This would perfectly explain why Mama Quill would call young Peter her Star-Lord.

If it's NOT Starhawk or Star-Lord (but who else could it be?)… It's gotta be some race that isn't very common any more (Nova Corps' genetic scan), and has spent time on Earth (access to Mama Quill)…

Inhuman? Perhaps. But I would think that the genetics would read as part Kree, and so be identifiable as such…

Asgardian? That fits the data, altho if the Xandarians could recognize it, there's no reason not to put a name to it, right? I'd think that Peter would exhibit more obviously superhuman abilities.

Titan? Hrm… We still don't know Thanos's origin in the MCU (I still *so* want my Red Skull theory to be correct! =). I think we hear him referred to as "the Mad Titan" in GOTG for the first time, tho. Could you imagine Peter's dad being Starfox? That's bananas, but it could be a lot of fun. Would help explain Peter's preternatural James T. Kirk level of success with the alien ladies, no?

Atlantean? That would be interesting. Maybe Atlanteans aren't native to Earth? Or at some point in the past, part of their population left Earth and once in space, disappeared? (I still would love for the blue guy in AGENTS OF SHIELD to be Atlantean =)

Wait, okay. Just work with me here… How about… Galadorian? WOW! That would be pretty awesome. I forget the timeline of the Spaceknight Order, but it was on the order of centuries, right? Man, if we could get a ROM story as a secret history of Earth story in the MCU—Woooo-ow! Like, Rom comes to Earth tracking Dire Wraiths to whatever town/city Mama Quill lives in, is misunderstood at first, maybe fights then teams up with a 70s Marvel hero or two, reveals and defeats the Wraiths, somehow regains his humanity (SHIELD? Reed Richards? Dr. Strange?). falls in love with and settles down with Mama Quill, and sires Peter with her. He has to leave Earth, tho, when he learns that the Dire Wraiths (or some other threat) are at large again offworld. I would be very very very happy with that. =)

9 comments:

Your theories are amazing! The main thing that got my attention was the one about Marvels agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the unknown blue monster that was the main source for the GH325 drug.I thought that it might have been some sort of relation to Skye and her parents - possibly the same race I'm not sure.When Rena walks into the room with Skye's father in it and his arm is covered in blood and she shows him a picture of 'his daughter' he looks almost human but what if they - like Loki - had the ability to change their appearance? Shapeshifting? So that would explain why Skye is perfectly normal but apparently her parents killed an entire town/city searching for her and multiple S.H.I.E.L.D agents were killed in the process. I also wondered if one of Skye's parents were human because she 'looks' normal but then my Shapeshifting theory earlier could disprove that? I'm not sure and this is the second time I've written this out so it's not as good as the first time :') Loved reading your theories again they're so well thought out you must be a massive marvel fan :)

I have a theory - so we know by GOTG that a person can be half alien and half human and appear human: Peter Quill is, and according to what we saw in Agents of SHIELD, Skyes father is an alien, and she appears human.So, what if Skye and Quill are half brothers, or even full blood brothers? What if they could not keep her and gave her in adoption? We know that Quills dad asked to retrieve him from earth, and what if he did the same thing with Skye, and when they couldnt find her, they destroyed the entire town.The only point here is that Skye was in China when the aliens came to retrieve her, thus proving that Peter and Skye cant be full blood brothers, yet they could share the same father.

In GOTG, at the very end, the scene when they tried to explain why Peter wasnt dead after touching the stone made me remember when they speculated about why did the GH325 drug didnt affect Skye negatively .

The main information that GOTG gives us regarding the theme is that Skye is not the only one half alien who looks like a human, and who has no apparent powers. And the fact that the aliens seen in the movies have been to earth and at least know of it .

I reallyh ope that the explanation is something similar to this, I think that it would be an amazing crossover and i would love to see peter and Skye together.

Spoiler alert...... Yondu is Star Lord's surrogate/adopted father in this film. He is one of the original Guardians (from the early 70s). Based upon what Star Lord's mother said when she passed and what they found out about Star Lord on Xandar at the end of the film, if I were writing the sequel, Star Lord's father would Starhawk. I have officially gone off into geekdom lala land, but Starhawk is a former Guardian. Starhawk is a precog. (Ship showed up as mom died.) He is also a master of light. (Mom described father being constructed of pure light.) On Xandar the medical screen shows he is partially constructed of light. Also, Starhawk at some point is partially constructed of two former lovers. I think the whole failure of Star Lord to grab his mother's hand before she passed has some significance with the whole merger of two distinct people mythos behind Starhawk

Hey, Annabel—thanks! Yeah, I'm maybe a bit of a Marvel fan. I'm not ultra-completist about it, but I kinda wish I was. It just takes too much time and money to be on top of everything that goes on and that's gone on in the Marvel Universe. But, even if you're only collecting/reading one title, thanks to the sinister and wonderful power of the crossover, and the concept of the persistent fictional universe, you can't help but learn more about the MU along the way.

Regarding Skye's heritage, I think it's safe to say that she's a hybrid of human and the species of the source of GH325. Kree are blue-skinned, and that seems to be a popular theory, and it certainly fits the data, but like I said in my earlier rambling, I'd *love* for it to be Atlantean, to sort of open the door to all the potential in an Atlantean species and civilization in the MCU, y'know?

If Skye's half-Kree, well, the MU has blue and pink-skinned Kree, so her father could be a pink one, and that would easily explain her appearance. He could also be blue and some genetic math just happened to work out that she isn't blue, or tinted blue. Kree blood could also be an indicator of Inhuman blood, which would open another fun door for Inhuman stories and characters.

Which of those possibilities, if any, jives with the end scene of AGENTS OF SHIELD? Well, we did see Ronan bathing in the blood of his enemies in GOTG. And with the proper make-up artist, a blue could pass for any shade of human, right? So, Kree could work. Stranded on Earth?

Oh! Wack! You mentioned shapeshifting—I just now thought of something—What if the body of GH325 is that of a Skrull who was killed while in the form of a Kree (or other blue-skinned being)? In the MU, I think that Skrulls typically revert on dying, but maybe it depends on how they die. That would be pretty awesome. MU historically, the Skrulls are millennia old enemies of the Kree. There's been no mention or appearance of them so far (the Chitauri were sort of stand-ins for them, lifted from the Ultimate Marvel Universe).

Frack. I should have just made this a post on its own. Maybe I'll do that later…

Where was I? Oh, the guy taking the bloodbath, Skye's alleged father. Well, okay, he could be Kree, blue or pink. I think he could also be Atlantean, and the bath he's in is some mix that helps him survive for prolonged periods as a landlubber.

An Inhuman? Certainly possible, altho he'd be some kind of rogue. Or maybe the history of Inhumanity in the MCU is different, like… Maybe they don't have a central civilization, but are spread out across the globe, hiding in plain sight.

So… I guess I can't really narrow any of these options down. And I'm mostly fine w that. =)

Check out Camila's comment, which explicitly suggests connecting Peter Quill and Skye as half-siblings. That would be *brilliant* But, I hafta say, I have my doubts. Given the "Angel made of pure light" description that Mama Quill gives of Peter's dad, I'm not seeing the blood bath guy in the AGENTS OF SHIELD finale as the same man/being.

I totally get Camila's deja vu experience regarding Peter Quill surviving Orb Stone contact and Skye surviving GH325, tho. It is rather uncanny for MCU fans who are paying attention.

Hey, Jason--- Not sure if you gave up on my rambling really early in the post, but basically, I totally agree w you. Starhawk is my first pick for deadbeat space-dad.

The original Guardians of the Galaxy of the MU were based in the 30th century, but with GOTG's Yondu pretty firmly established in the "present" of the MCU, we can't count on the MU's Guardians history, right? Would be nice for Starhawk to have jumped thru time or come by knowledge of the future thru other means. I'd love for there to be a connection across the centuries to another team, too. A legacy, y'know? And for Starhawk and Peter to be part of a loop of its creation, a la doing the nasty in the past-y. =)

Hrm… Interesting point about the failure to take his mother's hand. I like the idea that if he had, she would have somehow transferred something to him, knowledge, power, or ability, but everything she said until the end didn't really jive w that notion (his grandpa taking good care of him until his "angel of pure light" of a dad returns for him). But, there's no reason that can't be conveniently glossed over in a later film. So, Peter finally meets his father, maybe in Yondu's company, and Peter Sr. gives Yondu a hard time for abducting Peter and then gives Peter a hard time for not finding his way to him sooner… "Didn't your mother show you how to find me?" And then Peter would reveal how he didn't take her hand and Peter Sr. would understand, but then realize that SOMEONE must have touched her hand after she died and received that info and hey, a new supervillain or meddler is created. Fun times.

I think that Marvel -regarding Guardians- wont be introducing many species or aliens now, they have enough with GOTG to develop many stories now, so I really think that the blank spaces we have might be filled with some species we already know. Marvel in the MCU has always exolained things slowly, and the important clues are always given on "plain" sight, so with all the new beings on GOTG i doubt that they might untroduce someone new, rather than developing on the species we have and now know.

I like the point of Peter's father being describe as 'pure light', it is a very interesting point and it could mean a lot of things. Taking it on its literal sense, yeah, it could be pretty much a literally brilliant guy, but if we look on the metaphorical sense, what if she describes Peter's father as such because he saved her from something, or by the way he arrived to earth (a beam of light, like Peter's abduction), or maybe an implanted vision or thought. There are many interpretations, the only thing certain is that we must wait and see, its Marvel after all. It will all be explained eventually.

Hey, Andres—Glad to read that your Marvel math works out the same as mine! Starhawk* really does click for me, or at least a potential MCU version of him. The "Angel" and "pure light" and even space biker gang president Yondu's description of him as "a jackass," right? Cuz that's exactly what the MCU's Yondu would think of the MU's The-One-Who-Knows, heh.

And it's a great tether across time and universes to connect the 21st century MCU GOTG and the 31st century MU GOTG.

Starhawk's wikipedia entry mentions that his adopted parents were killed by a rogue Archuran military unit called the Reavers. Interesting, no?

As for the decimated Collection of the Collector, there's no saying for sure what was destroyed or hatched, right? The cocoon could still be intact, but out of its case (Howard and Cosmo survived). Or maybe its attached itself to some dark corner of Knowhere to continue its gestation or whatever.

Maybe whatever's inside the cocoon took advantage of the chaos, post-purple-stone-explosion, to absorb the Aether into itself?

It's going to be a version of Starhawk with backstory closer to that of Eros a.k.a Starfox.

Since everyone has seemed to only do half the homework, Starhawk is the SON of Wendall Vaughn's Quasar, who is fully Human or "Terran"

This makes the comic version of Starhawk a Half Terran just like Peter Quill and unable to provide the 50% Ancient DNA that Nova Prime stated. His Mother was Kismet, the second attempt by a second Enclave, to make a perfect human. Basically the female Adam Warlock. Both being created by humans to be a perfect human its safe to say their DNA is somewhat... Human.

On the other hand, Starfox, an Eternal, fits the DNA requirements but has no previous connection to GotG or Yondu. Gunn himself is the one who said that Yondu's place makes sense with his father.

Since they did a huge rewrite of Peter Quill's origin, it is safe to say they'll do the same for Starhawk, although StarFox's backstory is one of the only that fits plus ends up playing a part with the Avengers down the road especially during Infinity fighting against his brother Thanos.

I say they'll combine the two but under the name and look of Starhawk.